Arnaud Bédat

Arnaud Bédat
Bédat, pictured in 2015.
Born	(1965-03-08)8 March 1965 Porrentruy, Jura, Switzerland
Died	20 July 2023(2023-07-20) (aged 58)
Employer	L'Illustré

Arnaud Bédat (8 March 1965 – 20 July 2023) was a Swiss journalist and author. He worked for L'Illustré. His works often focused on high profile cases, including the Swissair Flight 111 and the Order of the Solar Temple.

Early life

Bédat was born in Porrentruy on 8 March 1965, one of three children.

Career

He began freelance writing for the publication Le Démocrate at a young age. Starting in 1983 he became a journalist. From 1992 to 2021, he was a reporter for L'Illustré.

In 2004, Bédat was fined 4,000 Swiss francs for violating the right to privacy of a motorist (who had killed three people and injured eight) by publishing an article the prior year revealing secret documents relevant to the case. The motorist himself did not file any complaint, but the government tried him for having published the documents. He had initially been given a suspended prison sentence, but this was replaced with the fine. The European Court of Human Rights eventually ruled this a violation of freedom of expression and the Swiss government was ordered to pay Bédat €5000.

He interviewed controversial Russian businessman Sergei Mikhailov.

His investigations covered cases like the Order of the Solar Temple, Swissair Flight 111, and Roman Polanski. Some of his later works were about Pope Francis. During the investigation of the Order of the Solar Temple, he convinced a policeman to give him several photos relevant to the case, which were later published in L'Illustré. Alongside journalists Gilles Bouleau and Bernard Nicolas, he wrote a 1996 book on the case, Les Chevaliers de la mort. Their investigation into the affair was covered in the 2022 documentary series Temple Solaire: l'enquête impossible.

Personal life

In 1983 he was featured on the game show La Course autour du monde.

Death

Bédat died on 20 July 2023, at the age of 58, following a sudden illness.

Publications

• —— (1988). L'Enigme Dieuleveul (in French). Favre. ISBN 978-2-8289-0231-5.
• ——; Bouleau, Gilles; Nicolas, Bernard (1996). Les Chevaliers de la mort: Enquête et révélations sur l'Ordre du Temple Solaire (in French). Paris: TF1 Éditions. ISBN 978-2-87761-148-0.
• ——; Bouleau, Gilles; Nicolas, Bernard (2000). L'Ordre du Temple Solaire: les secrets d'une manipulation (in French). Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-08-067842-3.
• —— (2014). François l'Argentin: Le pape intime raconté par ses proches (in French). Pygmalion. ISBN 978-2-7564-1120-0.
• —— (2017). François, seul contre tous: Enquête sur un pape en danger (in French). Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-0813-8856-7.
• —— (2018). Voir un ami voler: Les dernières années de Jacques Brel (in French). Plon. ISBN 978-2-259-26340-5.